284. Telegram From the Department of State to
the Embassy in Indonesia1

Washington, March 31,
1970, 0155Z.

046476. For Ambassador from Asst. Secretary Green.

1.

Public statements by Adam Malik
clearly show his awareness of importance of Cambodia to security
Southeast Asia, including Indonesia. As reported by FBIS, Malik told press March 25 that “what is happening in
Cambodia at present is a change of government and that Indonesia
recognizes the government currently in power in that country.” Malik added that all foreign troops
should be withdrawn from Cambodia since their presence only “endangers
situation in SEA.”

2.

Request you see Malik at
earliest convenient moment to discuss developments in Cambodia as they
relate to security of Southeast Asia. After commending him for his above
statement, you might point out to him that we too fully support the
neutrality and territorial integrity of Cambodia. Communist allegations
of US involvement in Cambodian affairs
are absolutely without foundation. These charges are an [Page 615]obvious effort to divert attention from
the undeniable fact that there are perhaps 40,000 North Vietnamese
encamped on Cambodian soil plus some 5,000 Viet Cong. It was in order to
gain international support, including that of Moscow and Peking, for the
removal of these NV/VC forces that
Sihanouk set out on his trip.
Meanwhile, Lon Nol is continuing
efforts to talk with Hanoi and PRG to
get them to remove these forces and there are now unconfirmed reports
and rumors that Communists may be seeking to attack and overthrow
Government of Cambodia or to extend control over various parts of
country.

3.

Under these circumstances, would be most useful if Asian countries
were to register their concern over developments in Cambodia and their
support for Cambodian neutrality and territorial integrity, much the way
Malik has already done (see
para 1). If this could be done by ASEAN countries speaking with common voice, this would be
particularly impressive, but if ASEAN
as an organization shrinks from being involved in this kind of an issue,
then it would be second best if ASEAN
member countries could speak up on their own. In any event, it is better
for Asians to take the lead than it is for US or European countries. Moreover, any indication that
US was putting Asian countries up to
making such statement would be unfortunate.

4.

I leave it to your best judgment and finesse as to how to handle this
issue with Malik in a way likely
to result in ASEAN (or failing that,
ASEAN member countries) making
their position clear along above lines. It is not our intention to
approach other ASEAN countries on this
issue since this should be a purely Asian initiative. Indeed I would
hope you could handle conversation in such a way that Malik would make suggestion himself
about ASEAN or ASEAN member countries making statement
and that he would follow through with them.

Rogers

Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POLNodis. Drafted by Green and Masters on March 30, cleared by Haig in the White House and Wingate
Lloyd (S/S), and approved by Green.↩